


A God and His Fox

by Icelette



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-24 12:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16640096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icelette/pseuds/Icelette
Summary: As a fire god, Mikoto's duties were just to answer humans' prayers. Outside of that, all he wanted was to exist in his quiet little hut in the middle of the forest. Unfortunately, a fox spirit is going to make sure that that does not happen.





	1. The Fox in Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [modorenai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/modorenai/gifts).



> Hope you enjoy this little fluffy piece about Fire God!Mikoto and Fox Spirit!Tatara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this first chapter in 3.5 hours, for a fic exchange with my friends, but I hope whoever reads this work will enjoy it!

The first signs of winter’s arrival presented themselves in the form of winds, chillier than they had been over the past few moons, sweeping through the forest. They curled around trees, nudging the last leaves off their homes to join their fallen comrades on the ground, and whistling as they squeezed in through the windows of a man-made structure in the middle of a clearing in the forest. Eventually, however, they must come to a halt before the sole occupant of the structure.

This would mark the start of Mikoto’s least favorite few moons in the year. The cold did not particularly bother him; no, the biting wintry winds yielded to his fire, losing momentum before they could even touch him.

But not everybody was as immune to the cold as a god of fire, and especially not humans, if he were to judge from the fact that winter brought them from nearby villages to pray to him, asking him to bless their hearth and grant them a mild, bearable winter. As a god, it was Mikoto’s duty to protect those who deferred to and worshipped him, but as a being, all he wanted to do was live his days in peace. When winter came around, his workload increased, and soon he would have to run errands all day long.

 

* * *

 

It was the twelfth day of winter that Mikoto found himself not completely alone as he made his way down to yet another village to light a villager’s hearth.

His companion was a sleek, nine-tailed fox with light-brown hair. It bounded alongside him, light fur in stark contrast with the dark shades of the bare forests around them. It was not yet cold enough for snow, but give it a few days and he would blend right in with his surroundings.

“Mikoto, which village are we going to today?” Though the fox’s mouth remained close, the fire god heard him loud and clear.

“Misaki’s village,” the god replied succinctly.

“Misaki’s?” At the mention of that name, the fox’s ears perked up in interest. “Does that mean there is fried tofu back at the shrine? Misaki always brings the best fried tofu when he comes to pray.”

Mikoto looked down at the fox, then turns his gaze back on the road ahead. “Are you not here because Izumo told you about Misaki’s visit?” When he next looked to his left, however, the fox was not there.

“Do you really think I come here for the fried tofu?” A voice came from behind him, and when he turned to its source, he saw standing there a man with hair the same shade as the fox that had been by his side just moments ago.

Now on two legs and much taller than before, and with Mikoto standing still, the fox-turned-man had no problems striding up to stand shoulder to shoulder with the fire god, who turned back around. “Do you deny it, Tatara?”

Tatara smiled his mysterious smile, before saying, “Come, let’s pay a visit to Misaki to thank him for the fried tofu, and quickly head back to enjoy it.” With that, the two men wordlessly continued onward to the village.

 

* * *

 

Tatara was a wandering fox spirit. He traveled the land, a free spirit, only ever stopping at shrines for sustenance. Ever since Mikoto had found him outside his hut that one time countless sun cycles ago, however, he would visit Mikoto in the forest every winter.

Well, Mikoto would say he found the fox, but if you asked Tatara, he would tell you that Mikoto had saved his life.

Not that spirits could die, but they could run out of energy and become powerless, immobile until someone found them and fed them.

That was how Mikoto had found this fox that midwinter, collapsed at his door in his fox form, all nine tails and half his body buried in snow that had piled up overnight. His snout was barely above the snow, and had Mikoto decided to sleep for just a few more notches on the sundial his previous caretaker had installed in the clearing in front of his hut a few cycles ago, he would not have found the fox until the snow melted.

Luckily for the fox, Mikoto hadn’t, for he did see him. Heat radiating from the god had already begun thawing the snow from the moment he opened his door, and as he bent down to pick up the fox, the snow completely melted into a puddle, freeing its prisoner.

But Mikoto’s heat did not burn Tatara. His awkward embrace, which spoke volumes about how this god had probably never touched another being before in his entire existence, was at times tight and at others gentle, as if he could not decide how much strength he should put into his arms in order not to drop nor crush the weak creature in his arms.

In spite of his inexperience and isolation, the fire god seemed to instinctively know what Tatara needed, for he brought him to a table set against the wall at the end of the room, where a pyramid of fried tofu was stacked on a red plate. The scent of food seemed to provide a burst of energy for the fox, for he leapt out of Mikoto’s arms at once and began scarfing down the tofu, finishing it in no time.

That winter, and every winter after that, Mikoto let him have all the fried tofu brought to him. According to the god, he had never been a fan of the dish, but the humans had somehow gotten it into their heads that shrines had foxes, and foxes loved fried tofu. Well, now that Mikoto’s shrine finally had a fox, it shall be in charge of clearing all the fried tofu.

 

* * *

 

“Mikoto, guess where I went this past sun cycle.” By the time Tatara and Mikoto finally returned to the shrine, the sun was just two notches of the sundial from setting. Since that first winter, Tatara had never turned up before Mikoto in such a starved state again, but after many winters of companionship, even the god had learned to tell when the fox was even the slightest bit energy-deprived.

Mikoto walked to the altar with Tatara trailing behind him. Izumo had greeted them at the foot of the stone steps leading up to the shrine, informing them (really, more for Tatara’s sake than Mikoto’s) that they had received a new batch of offerings today, which were placed at the altar beside Misaki’s offering of fried tofu from yesterday. Before the fox could get his hands on the fried tofu on the altar, however, Mikoto waved a hand over them.

Tatara beamed. “Thanks, Mikoto, for always warming them up for me.”

Mikoto grunted, as though in place of a reply. The two divine beings made their way deeper into the shrine (which Mikoto insists is a hut, because it sounds cosier), where the god proceeded to lie down on his bed. Tatara sat on the side of the bed, working his way through his pile of fried tofu. He probably didn't realize, Mikoto thought, that all nine of his bushy tails were out and swishing happily. And once again, the fire god had to physically clench his fists to stop himself from grabbing one of them just to still it. Tatara would probably not appreciate that, he told himself, and tried to focus on Tatara telling him about his latest adventures in a place called Shinano, further up north.

 

* * *

 

Once in a while, very rarely, groups of humans would come to Mikoto’s shrine and ask for something more than a mild winter.

Really, it was once in a number of sun cycles.

Lately, however, the same clan had been coming to him, calling him their town “guardian” and offering more extravagant things than those before them had. Even though Mikoto really had no use for things like swords and the like, it was a huge improvement from hundreds of sun cycles ago when they tried to offer other humans to him, as if receiving a life would endear them to him more. To be honest, it might have, had he been some other god. Tatara had told him stories of other gods who accepted lives in exchange for performing their duties. Mikoto never understood what a god was supposed to do with a life offered to him, so he had sent those groups back crying with their sacrifice still alive. (As far as he could tell, those were tears of relief from the sacrifice’s family, which puzzled him - if family was so important to these humans, how could they stand to let someone just give up their lives like that?)

This midsummer’s day, the group arrived at his doorstep once again, offerings in hand, praying for his blessing and divine aid as some of them prepared to go to war with a neighboring clan. From what he could gather, through the whispers of the guardian spirits of some of the humans present, the clan had recently been involved in yet another falling out with the neighboring clan, who had stolen their property, claiming that it had originally been theirs.

And what would this “property” be? Why, it was just a horse.

Sure, it was a divine horse, but a horse nonetheless.

Humans, thinking they owned whatever they found.

Still, the fact that they had come to pray meant that Mikoto had no choice but to at least follow them onto the battlefield.

He traveled days, hitching a ride in the commander’s carriage. It had been a few decades since he was called on as a war god. Mikoto wondered which god he would be up against this time. It had better not be…

“Mikoto! Fancy seeing you here!”

A familiar, yet completely unexpected voice jerked him out of his reverie.

“Tatara,” Mikoto said in way of greeting.

The fox hopped into the carriage and onto Mikoto’s lap. He had spotted and been following this troop’s movements for a few days out of curiosity (it had been quite a few sun cycles since he’s seen a real war, after all). The troops had stopped, setting up camp for the night, and the commander had left the carriage. Mikoto opened the door that the commander had closed to let in some fresh air, which was how Tatara had ended up realizing the god was also around.

Said fire god looked down at the fox in his lap and commented, “It’s summer.”

The fox looked him in the eyes, as if challenging him, before transforming into a human and taking a seat beside him. “Don’t think I don’t know that your powers don’t just allow you to give heat, but also take it away,” he replied slyly, dropping a head on the god’s shoulder.

Mikoto sighed, pulling on the energies surrounding him and the intruder, now his companion, to cool the air in the carriage. Tatara snuggled closer to him in retaliation.

 

* * *

 

“Mikoto.”

… And of course, it just had to be him. Reishi, the god of lightning.

Which meant their two clans were fighting, yet again. After hundreds of sun cycles of peace. Over a horse.

Mikoto had made Tatara stay on the sidelines, and now he was all the more grateful for his own foresight. Of all the gods Mikoto had ever faced as a war god, Reishi and him had the worst compatibility. Their powers were too similar, which made them more or less evenly matched, meaning that either one of them, or both, would come out of this worse for the wear.

Studying the god before him, Mikoto noticed Reishi now had a sword with him. Hmm, he guessed some gods did like getting swords for offerings, then.

He did not have much time to ponder Reishi’s new weapon, for the battle began in earnest, and it was all both gods could do to avoid each other’s attacks and try to get an upper hand over the other.

Fire and lightning danced across the battlefield, never quite striking within range of the mortals. The humans involved who lived to tell the tale would later recall how one particularly straight bolt of lightning struck a random tree quite close to the clearing where the battle had happened, distracting the commander of one clan for long enough that the other’s had a chance to seize victory.

For Mikoto, however, it was the moment he discovered gods could feel fear.

The bolt of lightning had headed straight for the tree he was sure he had instructed his fox to wait out of sight under. The world suddenly turned silent as he turned his head to see the lightning cleave the tree in half, itself bursting into fire, with no familiar light-brown coat of fur and bushy tails in sight.

This momentary distraction proved fatal for his clan’s commander, but for him, it meant that he had failed as a god, and the next thing he knew, Reishi’s sword pierced his chest.

And then he fell.

 

* * *

 

Gods were immortal.

He knew that. He knew that well.

But the sight of Mikoto lying before him, sword through his chest, made him question everything he thought he knew of the world.

Beside the altar, Izumo had prepared talismans and tools to bring the god out of his situation. He tried to reassure the fox spirit that he knew what he was doing, but Tatara knew that Izumo had never done this before. He only knew, theoretically, from what his master had taught him, which was what the master before him had taught him, and so on.

But Mikoto had never been injured in battle before, not in all the cycles Tatara had known him. How could he trust these priests that they had the method down when he was sure none of them had ever actually tried or tested the method?

Perhaps that was why, even long after the sword had been removed and Mikoto had regained consciousness, Tatara remained by his side moon after moon, never leaving. Well, except right after Izumo had removed the sword, which he had proceeded to grab with mouth in his fox form, running off with it and throwing it off a distant waterfall.

For the first few days, he licked at Mikoto’s healing wound, speeding up its healing process. Mikoto would silently let him, even though it probably hurt a lot more than if he had left it alone. The wound would eventually heal, but Tatara could not stand seeing that imperfection mar the god’s otherwise unscarred chest.

Tatara kept Mikoto in bed for the first moon, sitting on him in fox form when the god tried to get up. Even when he finally let the god sit up, and eventually start running his “errands” again, the fox never let him out of his sight for a moment.

But Tatara was a wandering fox spirit, and Mikoto knew that better than anyone. As much as he enjoyed having the energetic fox smother him and keep him entertained throughout his healing process, he could tell that Tatara was getting restless as the days went by.

Thus, when spring came round, and the barren trees gain their first decorations, he had Izumo prepare the usual bundle of fried tofu, handed them to the fox spirit and told him, “Come back in winter. I will be waiting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan on writing a second chapter delving into Izumo and Misaki's roles in this verse.


	2. A Habit

“Kusanagi-san!”

Kusanagi Izumo looked up from the sundial that he had been wiping down, just in time to see the top of a beanie emerge above the steps. A few seconds later, Yata Misaki was standing in front of the priest in a light coat, holding a wrapped box.

“Oh, you’re here, Misaki-kun. Have you come to give thanks to the Fire God?”

Misaki beamed, lifting the wrapped box a little and saying, “Yep! I had my mom make our village’s speciality fried tofu as offering. We’re always thankful to Mikoto-sama for keeping our houses warm throughout winter.”

Izumo nodded. “Tatara-san is still here, so I’m sure he’ll be very grateful for it.”

“Awesome! I’d hoped he was still here, since you always say he loves the fried tofu I bring.”

“Well, then, you best go inside quickly and leave that on the altar for him. Even I can’t tell you when he will leave. Foxes are whimsical like that.”

At Izumo’s prompting, Misaki bowed a little and proceeded to jog into main building of the shrine. Izumo called after him, “Don’t run! You’ll slip and fall!” and only turned back to his work after he saw the young boy slow his footsteps considerably.

 

* * *

 

Later that day, Izumo and Misaki were in the hall of a side building of the shrine. Misaki stood in the middle of the hall, surrounded by a circle of unlit torches, while Izumo sat outside of the formation, near the front of the hall. They appeared to be waiting for something to happen.

A few moments later, Mikoto entered the hall with Tatara in tow. The fox was in human form, an uncovered box in his left hand and a freshly offered fried tofu, removed from said box, in his right.

At the god’s arrival, Izumo instructed, “Misaki, you may begin.”

Misaki closed his eyes, inhaled and exhaled, then opened them. One by one, the torches around him burst into red flames. Once the whole circle of torches had been lit up, they extinguished again, one by one.

When the last torch finally went out, Misaki took in a deep breath, and when he released it, threw out both of his arms. All at once, the torches flared to life again.

Misaki dropped his left arm while raising his right, and the flames seemed to follow his right arm movement as they rose up, leaving their respective torches. Now burning without fuel, each flame was a self-sustaining ball of holy fire at Misaki’s command. When he slowly brought his right hand front, the circle of flames began revolving around him in an anti-clockwise fashion.

The slow orbit of the flames gradually picked up speed, morphing from discrete balls of red into a ring.

Tatara was mesmerized by this new trick, right hand stopped halfway up to his mouth which had fallen open. His body had also moved to hide behind Mikoto, though he himself did not realize he had done so. And his instincts were right, for the most part. Occasionally, stray sparks were thrown out of the orbit, which Mikoto quickly yet effortlessly extinguished before they could hit the wooden pillars of the hall or any of its occupants, human or otherwise.

Misaki let the fiery ring orbit him a little longer, before shrinking it until it was a solid sphere above his palm. Then, he closed his fingers around it, and when he opened his hand, the sphere was gone.

The hall was silent for a breath, then the boy in the middle was grinning excitedly, asking, “How was it? Was Mikoto-sama impressed? Is Tatara-san watching? Did he like it?”

Izumo looked over at the divine duo before replying, “Yes, it was very impressive. Mikoto-sama is very proud of you, and Tatara-san is so awe-struck he’s forgotten to eat.”

“Hey! Misaki didn’t have to know that!” At the mention of his name, the fox spirit snapped out of his trance and protested.

But Misaki was more delighted at having been praised to laugh at Tatara.

Izumo continued, ignoring the fox. “You’ve been practicing hard, Misaki-kun, but your control could use some more practice. Still, Mikoto-sama and I both believe that if you keep this up, you’ll be able to perfect your control over the holy fire before next winter. When that happens, we’ll contact the grand shrine and ask them to take you in for formal training to become a priest.”

“Really!? I’ll work hard! I can’t wait to be able to finally see Mikoto-sama and Tatara-san!”

“Good. Let’s begin meditation for today then.” Izumo’s announcement was the cue for Mikoto to leave. His presence (basically as a fire-extinguisher) was no longer required.

 

* * *

 

“Isn’t it great? Misaki’s control over your fire has come such a long way since he first came to the shrine for lessons!” Tatara commented, once again munching on his fried tofu as he followed Mikoto out of the side building back into the main one, where the god’s sleeping chambers were located.

When Mikoto didn’t reply, the fox continued, “I suppose in a few sun cycle’s time, this shrine will have more than one priest for the first time in a few hundred cycles! It’ll be so fun when Misaki can finally see us! We can go play in the forest - Izumo never comes with me, and you’re too lazy to run around with me. I bet Misaki will race me.”

“I won’t allow it.”

“Why not? I’m not going to force you come with us.”

Mikoto glanced at Tatara from the corner of his eyes. “You’re only here in winter. Running through the forest is dangerous during winter.”

Tatara’s eyes narrowed, then widened as his expression brightened, as if he suddenly understood something.

“Mikoto… Are you jealous? Are you scared that even though I’m only going to be here for four moons, I’ll spend all my time playing with Misaki when I come in winter, and I’ll stop accompanying you to villages on your errands?” Tatara hops in front of Mikoto, darting backwards as the god kept walking on. Mikoto averted his eyes, choosing instead to brush past him and slide open the door into his chambers.

“Wow, I even didn’t know gods could get jealous. I-”

Before he could finish, Tatara found his arm in a strong grip as he was suddenly jerked forward, losing his balance and falling back-first onto the tatami. Shock at being manhandled caused him to instinctively revert to his primary form, but when he looked up he saw Mikoto hovering above him, on all fours as if he were the animal in the room.

No, hovering was the wrong word, for Mikoto’s face was getting closer and closer to his own. Panicking when he felt the god’s nose touch his own snout, Tatara forced himself to transform back into his human form, just in time for his lips to greet Mikoto’s.

Mikoto could be such a bully sometimes. What would he have done if Tatara hadn’t managed to turn back in time? Eat his fur? Judging from the way he was devouring Tatara’s mouth at present, that might have been his intention.

 _You underestimate how well I know you_ , Tatara. Mikoto’s voice echoed in his head. Tatara smiled into the kiss, stretching his arms upwards to wrap around Mikoto’s torso.

“Then you should know, ah, Mikoto stop, that tickles,” Tatara began to speak once Mikoto’s lips left his, never expecting them to move onto kissing his neck. He only continued when Mikoto lifted his head to meet his gaze. “You should know that I would never let anyone get in the way of spending my winters with my favorite god.”

“You just want me because I’m warm.”

Tatara giggled. “And for the fact that you get fried tofu delivered to your altar every other day.”

The playful fox was not always the one to push when it came to being obvious about his feelings. In fact he withdrew more often than not nowadays, under the onslaught of Mikoto's affections.

And as usual, it came back to bite him on all nine tails, when Mikoto laid both his body and his feelings on him fully. “Whatever you come for, don't think I'll let you out of my sight for a single moment when you're here.”

His low growl caused Tatara's breath to hitch.

A few sun cycles ago, when Mikoto had gotten hurt on the battlefield, Tatara had not let the god out of sight until he was all but chased out of the shrine. Even then, he had only left because Mikoto's words assured him that he would still be there when he came back.

Little did he know that for those few moons, Mikoto also kept his eyes on Tatara when awake, and at least one arm around Tatara when they were not. After all, Tatara never knew the real reason Mikoto had gotten injured that day. All he knew was that Mikoto had suddenly become a lot more affectionate.

Their dynamic had changed from that day on, but their habits have not. Tatara continued to be gone eight moons a cycle, only spending four at the shrine, when Mikoto would proceed to monopolize all his time.

And he will continue to do so, even if it meant he had to follow the fox he once saved into the forest to play with the human child he incidentally also saved.

He was making a habit of this saving business, ever since he first brought the fox in from the cold. It had robbed him of his peace and quiet, and the latest addition threatened to take what remained of his solitude and burn it in holy fire (which, ironically, he himself had given the child, albeit by accident).

But now, staring down at Tatara laying beneath him, arms tightly wrapped around himself as if to say, “me neither,” Mikoto could not bring himself to regret that one decision he made countless cycles ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is now complete, so I guess I shall write out the details here that I didn't manage to fit into the story:
> 
> 1) Kusanagi is not originally from the area around, but had “found his calling” the moment he laid eyes on Mikoto, having gotten lost in the forest and been rescued Tatara. Tatara had brought him back to the hut, where the previous priest (before Kusanagi) had noticed how Izumo interacted with the fox and realized he had Divine Sight, an ability that meant he could see divine beings. This wasn't always a rare ability, since humans used to all be able to see gods, but as they began to rely more and more on their own power to shape their own destinies, they began to lose this ability. (This is also the reason Mikoto's shrine only has one priest, because all priests have to have the Sight.) The priest took Kusanagi under his wing, training him to be his successor. Izumo had not left the shrine since that day.
> 
> 2) Misaki is actually from a village that's not that close to Mikoto's mountain. He was also someone saved by Mikoto, but his was a different situation from Kusanagi's and Tatara's. His mother was having difficulty giving birth and prayed to the fire god for help. (They wouldn't know this, but his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, so he would have been strangled to death coming out.) Tatara had been visiting that village when he came across this, and, knowing the god that she was praying to, he decided to pay Mikoto a visit and convinced him to save Misaki. In the process however, Mikoto accidentally let his holy fire touch Misaki, and the fire stayed with Misaki all the way, which is why he can conjure and control them (with training). When he was young, he'd nearly burnt down half the forest nearby, which was how Mikoto had found out about this. He sent Kusanagi to take Misaki in as an apprentice, also having the priest telling him he was forbidden from using it outside of practice. Secretly, though, Misaki uses it to help his mother make fried tofu. And because that fried tofu is essentially made using Mikoto's fire, Tatara loves it. He will eventually take over Kusanagi's position as the priest at Mikoto's shrine.


End file.
